Arzak

To say I was excited to dine at Arzak is possibly one of the biggest understatements since, since well, Ever!! Arzak has such a massive history, yes its had 3 michelin stars for , get this , 20 years. Thats such an unbelievable achievement in itself, Juan Mari Arzak is the third generation to work behind the stoves there and is passing the gauntlet onto his super talented daughter Elena Arzak. Its incredible to think that it has over 100 years of history. He is probably the chef that has done the most for progressing Basque cuisine. A true Legend of cooking.

I was so happy to have the company of my brother who had nipped over from London for a few days, and we settled to having the Tasting menu, 5 Tapas followed by 10 course to tantalise your taste buds,

The meal was superb, the staff the same and Elena Arzak was so attentive of us from the beginning of the meal, we took a tour of the establishment, through the kitchen and to a very impressive wine cellar with some amazing technology in keeping the wines at the correct temperatures, the kitchen was large and immaculate.

The Tapas were great, there was a Black pudding bon bon tempura,  Lotus crisps with fish mousse  and Rockfish fried in some sort of crispy crust that I cant remember. a great start.

The first course was a figs and foie dish, anything with foie gets the thumbs up from me, and the figs of course went so well with them, the foie had a really thin caramel crisp on top just adding a little texture.

Moving down the menu there was a Potato crisp covering lobster, with a lobster sauce like ive never tasted before,  I love the these spanish chefs that are making the sauces and jus in the restaurants here, so bloody good!! Could just taste the sea.

The main course was a choice of Pigeon, Lamb or,hmmm one other , cant remember, I went for the  pigeon which came with beautiful spheres of rice wine and i think balsamic . blue potato spheres and potato rounds, written on the menu as Perdigones dulces which i believe translates to 'Sweet shots'.

The meal was great, and possibly one of the most colourful meals I've ever had, very striking. It came across as very playful with use of dry ice here and there, flavours were so good and dishes massively balance, Stand out dish for me was the Dulce Lunatico, loved it, it was like a white chocolate and caramel casing(may be wrong there) with a beautiful filling of and Orange gel, and came along with red wine reduction, so good.. the photo above is Chocolate with crystals and colours, A soft ganache with chocolate and rosemary ice cream and many different super thin tuile, simple but tasty.

All in all another fantastic experience fully worthy of 3 stars and for sure worth a special trip.

Elena Arzak is a fantastic host, I even left with a bottle of Rioja as a present from her, shows that

they may be super star chefs but they are kind, caring and above all fantastic chefs, true leaders in our profession.

Labels: Arzak, elena Arzak, juan mari Arzak

Comments

[Alessandra]

Id love to go to Arzak one day, lucky you!

[S Lloyd]

I miss the days when the dad used to be omnipresent behind the stoves. The daughter is cool and talented, but not quite up par with her dad's outstanding cuisine (I know, he can't do that all his life, but what a Chef he was!)